Essay 1: Analysis of Learning by Degrees

While Learning by Degrees does have many points on the American education system, the article has two main effective points that support the argument for keeping the American education system the way it is. The first main idea is the financial stability these jobs produce, as mentioned by the author.. The second idea is that people with higher education skills, ones that can be taught with a bachelor’s degree, are more likely to get a satisfying job. The author, Rebecca Mead, is a journalist and writer for the New Yorker and grew up in London. This background gives her an outside view of the education system in America. On the other hand, since she did write for the New Yorker and went to school at Oxford and New York University, this gives her some insight to the education system in America. She also lives in Brooklyn, thus understands the environment of being surrounded by schools and businesses. Overall, the author offers many perspectives over this controversial issue on whether high schools and colleges should prepare students for the workplace or for their field of study.

The article talks about the probability of getting a satisfying job for the class of 2010. Mead explains that the safest jobs are accountants and engineers of all kinds, which tells us that STEM jobs are being more and more in demand because of the growth of technology and scientific knowledge that are in demand in developed nations.  also Mead discusses that high schools and colleges make students spend money on something they might not even use. An example she uses to support the opposite claim is that fifteen percent of mail carriers have a bachelor’s degree (source?). They could have spent the money from their education to buy a house instead, explained…. Then the author describes how intellectuals start trouble in this world, with an example from Barrack Obama presidential office run. The article shows that Obama’s degrees from prestigious universities make him unfit for office. This statement is controversial because if Obama got his education and knowledge from very intellectual and well-educated schools, doesn’t that make him better fitted for the oval office? That is just common sense.

The first effective idea presented by the author was the financial stability certain jobs presented by Mead. These jobs consist of mostly STEM professions that provide the math and problem-solving skills that Rebecca Mead said were more likely to get these STEM majors hired. On the other hand, according to the New Yorker, “Eight out of the ten job categories that will add the most employees during the next decade—including home-health aide, customer-service representative, and store clerk—can be performed by someone without a college degree” (Source?). This proves that we need to have a higher education system that prepares students for the workplace, not for something that will not be in demand in the future. The article needs to have more evidence as to how colleges and high schools plan on making these changes to allow for an education in the workplace and career stability. The article doesn’t address this issue and would work wonders if Mead added the how. Mead addresses the what and why of…  but fails to address the how and when these changes are going to occur.

The second effective idea presented by the author was that high schools and colleges need to prepare students for the workplace and not college. Meanwhile, the author is stating that Americans do not have good financial management skills. This is stated when Professor Vedder is quoted as saying, “The argument put forth by Professor Vedder (Ph.D., University of Illinois) is, naturally, economic: of those overly schooled mail carriers, he said, “Some of them could have bought a house for what they spent on their education” (Mead, 3). This shows the poor structure of high school teaching and how they do not teach financial decision making and economic wisdom. This is something the article needs to discuss in more detail. If the article could make a stronger claim for this argument, then more people might agree with Mead’s claim.

Overall, the takeaways are that the author has a narrow viewpoint on how high schools prepare for college and the workplace. An example of this is when she talks about what high schools and colleges should focus on teaching. Mead explains that colleges and high schools should prepare students for their careers they will be doing until retirement and potentially a lifetime. As Professor Lerman has stated, , of American University (Ph.D., M.I.T.), told the Times that high schools, rather than readying all students for college, should focus on the acquisition of skills appropriate to the workplace. According to the Times, these include the ability to ‘solve problems and make decisions,’ ]resolve conflict and negotiate,’ ‘cooperate with others,’ and ‘listen actively’,” (Learning by Degrees, 3). So, whether high schools and colleges prepare students for the workplace or their field of study, there needs to be a change in the American education system.

Help Received: Learning by Degrees, and https://www.prhspeakers.com/speaker/rebecca-mead

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Essay 4: Reflection of Self-Writings

My writing was not always the best, and still isn’t. I have a lot of areas in writing that I could still improve on. This is normal for a student who is still learning how to write and efficiently manage my time. With this in mind, my writing skills did not become what they are today alone. I had a lot of help in molding my writing knowledge and toolkit that I use today. My biggest supporter that helped me with my writing skills is my grandmother. She showed me what it took to become a good writer.

My grandmother taught me most of my editing skills. We would sit down and she would help me go over my papers, looking for grammatical errors. I would say to her, “I think I have found all the errors on this paper”. My grandmother would laugh and say back to me, “I have already found 3 grammatical errors on this paper”. I would look at her like she was crazy, and she would help me understand what was wrong and how to prevent myself from doing it again. I would always be amazed of how she was able to find errors in my papers when I couldn’t even see the errors on my papers. I got much better at finding these errors and fixing my sentence structure because of my grandmother and the things I took away from her teachings.

Furthermore, my previous essays that I have written could have been improved in two ways. The first being time management and starting my essays earlier. Time management has been one of the things I have lacked since the beginning of this semester. I have learned though that I need to start my papers earlier in order to see the flaws and areas of improvement. As my peers stated in my previous essays, “Good flow throughout the paper, just needs a better organization of sentences.”  I have always struggled with organizing my papers so that they make sense chronologically. On the other hand, writing a well-done essay doesn’t happen overnight. It takes weeks to plan, organize, write, and edit a well-structured paper. This is one of the areas I lacked throughout this class. 

The second way I could improve on my writing for this class is proofreading and editing my paper after I finish writing them. Reading my papers out loud was something I failed to do for this class as well. On the contrary, I have improved on seeing flaws in my paper that could change the purpose of my essays. Taking these necessary measures can help me polish my grammar, sentence structure and make my papers that much better.

To end with, my writing still has a long way to go before I can call myself a “well-organized writer”, but my skills have come far from where I started. I have improved on my planning and sentence organization skills. I have also improved on what I write about and knowing what to write about. Always improving and learning as a writer is very important since you write for most of your life. Throughout this course, I feel like I have a better understanding of the different grammar and writing skills necessary to become a well-rounded writer.

 

HR: quotes from peers from previous essays

Essay 3: Barracks Life

What is VMI? VMI is the Virginia Military Institute, a four year military college in Lexington, Virginia. The Virginia Military Institute has produced some of the world’s greatest leaders like General George Marshall, General Peay, and former Vice President Mike Pence just to name a few. With that in mind, how does VMI produce such great leaders? Through the rigorous and intense life in barracks. The first part of the barracks, named “Old Barracks” is the oldest of the three sections, hence the name. Then, the second oldest was named “New Barracks”, and most recently, the final part of the barracks that was built was named “Third Barracks”. “Construction of “New Barracks,” standing diagonally to the NW of the west wing.  It was occupied by cadets in September 1949, with the primary entrance through Marshall Arch. A concourse level in the rear housed the military store, tailor shop, and other support services. Third Barracks is constructed where Lejeune Hall once stood.  In addition to increasing the available number of cadet rooms, the new wing incorporates a Visitor’s Center, the bookstore, and the Keydet Canteen” (VMI Website, VMI Archives). All three sections of this prison-like structure make up the VMI barracks.

To begin with, barracks life begins with the ratline, which is conducted to instill the proper training and structure for guiding you through the rest of your cadetship and life. The ratline is, “The rat line is designed to be comparable to the Marine Corps boot camp in terms of its physical rigor and mental stress. The rat line includes indoctrination, minute regulation of individual behavior, frequent punishments, rigorous physical education, and military drills. VMI’s catalogue describes the rat system as “equal and impersonal in its application, tending to remove wealth and former station in life as factors in one’s standing as a cadet, and ensuring equal opportunity for all to advance by personal effort and enjoy those returns that are earned” (Article 5, Jon Allyn Soderber).

In addition, barracks life includes many obstacles and challenges that help reinforce the idea of a “harsh reality of life after VMI”. We have all faced some adversity in our lifetime, and for cadets at the Virginia Military Institute, it is a daily normality to face some form of adversity. Adversity comes in many forms at the Virginia Military Institute, like for example getting to class on time so you do not have to march penalty tours during your free time. Another example is putting your bed up everyday so you don’t get put on confinement, which means you can’t leave the school campus, even on the weekends. So while other college kids are partying and having fun, you are stuck on school grounds because you were late to class or did not put your bed up on time. There are many challenges at the Virginia Military Institute, and it teaches you discipline and the will to solve any problem or challenge that comes your way.

Furthermore, barracks life is connected to other aspects of VMI, like ROTC control time during weekends, room inspections, and formations everyday during supper and early breakfast times. These formations are meant for taking accountability and to ensure proper marching to Crozet Hall for breakfast and supper. On top of that, cadets get evaluated by the Commandant Staff, the “adults at the Virginia Military Institute” on how well each company does marching down. In addition, cadets have their rooms inspected and can get on confinement or march penalty tours for having messy rooms or an unorganized wall locker. On the other hand, cadets must choose an ROTC branch for all four years of their cadetship. These ROTC branches, the Army, Navy, Marine Corp, and Air Force, hold a control time on weekends in which the ROTC branches conduct training for the required skills needed. The purpose of these training is to allow cadets to become more familiar with their ROTC branch and get hands-on experience before they commission into the military. With all these things in mind, barracks life is both fascinating and teaches cadets many lessons they can put in their back pockets for the rest of their lives.

While VMI is a very rigorous and challenging college, there are still fun events that take place at the Virginia Military Institute. Some examples would be football games and movie nights in barracks. Football games are unique at the Virginia Military Institute, especially home games. The game begins with the entire Corp of cadets marching down from the parade field to the football stadium, where the Corp forms up by battalion on the football field and salutes both sides of the stands before the game starts. In addition, the Virginia Military Institute hosts events like movie nights and costume contests. The purpose of these events is to keep the morale of the corps of cadets high. Also, it keeps the public’s eye at ease if they see VMI hosting fun events and not acting like a prison school.

To end with, the Virginia Military Institute is a unique college that teaches cadets how to achieve their goals and learn the highest form of good character and honor. VMI not only instructs cadets to become better leaders, VMI helps cadets prepare for the life ahead of them. Whether that is joining the military or working in the civilian field, applying what you learned from VMI will help you wherever you go. The Virginia Military Institute rigorous schedule for all four years of your cadetship, will train you for a lifetime of any challenge you face. VMI is no ordinary life.

HR: VMI Essays: The Virginia Military Institute And The Equal Protection Clause: A Factual And Legal Introduction (wlu.edu), VMI Barracks History – VMI Archives – Virginia Military Institute, Cadets experience Army life through mentorships with active duty units | Article | The United States Army, Virginia Military Institute | Military Benefits, and VMI 3rd Battalion- Golf Company for interview questions.

Essay 2: Delayed Thesis Argument

Imagine that you are searching the internet, and you stumble across a website that strikes you as odd. You begin to wonder if you should click the link to satisfy your curiosity. So you decide that clicking this odd website link probably is not the best idea, but you click the link anyways. Then, the information on the website says, “You can win a $250 gift card of your choice! All you have to do is enter some information and you can claim your prize!” After seeing this message, your screen begins to go black and you are being hacked. Now your information and accounts from banks to Hulu membership, has been controlled by someone with mischievous intent. The protection of personal information is becoming a bigger and bigger concern. On the other hand, the internet allows for greater access to knowledge and people. With the invention of the “world brain”, the human species has been able to connect and learn everything that we know as a race by simply searching an engine of information that gives you the power to know what nature knows. We are still learning much about the information of the “world brain”. 

The flow of information on the internet has allowed for increased connectivity worldwide. This is because of the fast networks of telephones and the volume of connectivity through social media platforms. In addition, “Due to digitalization today, we are more connected than ever before in human history. Access to the Internet has increased from 16 million in 1995 to 4157 million users by the end of December 2017. The industry which helped humanity connect and made the world a global village is the telecommunication industry” (Farooq, M., Raju). Furthermore, “Introduction to the Internet has transformed traditional businesses; this transformation leads to the era of transformation Marketing (Kumar 2018; Meyer 2018; Varadarajan 2018). It has transformed different sectors. For instance, publishing, advertising, and music media are completely different today compared to a decade ago (Akamai 2013). The twenty-first century is the century of disruption. In the last two decades, the changes the world has seen were never witnessed in human history. Many changes which the world has embarrassed made people’s life easy (Farooq et al. 2018, 2019). Introduction of iTunes helped people to listen to their desired customized songs without buying the complete albums, and Airbnb is offering the people the opportunity to leave the hotels and be guests of someone in some other country or region” (Farooq, M., Raju).

Also, the flow of information on the internet is being controlled more and more due to cybersecurity problems. “For example, an invasion of privacy is a violation of or intrusion into something valuable that should be protected. Discussion of the concept, however, brings into question why privacy should be cherished and protected. In the digital age, the normative dimension is the object of intense discussion. Existing dangers to privacy—because of big data applications, cloud computing, and profiling—are widely recognized, but feelings of resignation and why should we bother lie dormant” (Marcel Becker).

There are many explanations as to why information on the internet has been more controlled recently, but on the other hand, information on the internet has been beneficial too. One example as to how the flow of information on the internet has been beneficial for education is learning programs and tools for online learning. “In addition, the flow of information on the internet has been beneficial for connectivity because of the mass production of cellular devices and the social media platforms contained within these cellular devices. 

Overall, the flow of information has many different areas of discussion, but it has been controlled by corporations and governments more and more. This “information lockdown” has caused a major distrust in governments and large corporations by citizens, who have a right to privacy of information and also protection of the citizen’s information. Furthermore, “A view of privacy as the norm that regulates and structures social life (the social dimension of privacy) has gained importance in both law and philosophical literature. For instance, the European Court of Human Rights previously stressed that data protection was an individual’s right not to be interfered with” (Marcel Becker).

 

HR: Ziegeldorf, Jan Henrik, et al. “Privacy in the Internet of Things: Threats and Challenges.” Security and Communication Networks, vol. 7, no. 12, 2014, pp. 2728–2742., doi:10.1002/sec.795.

Guo, Lei, and Yiyan Zhang. “Information Flow Within and Across Online Media Platforms: An Agenda-Setting Analysis of Rumor Diffusion on News Websites, Weibo, and Wechat in China.” Journalism Studies, vol. 21, no. 15, 2020, pp. 2176–2195., doi:10.1080/1461670X.2020.1827012.

Jost, John T, et al. “How Social Media Facilitates Political Protest: Information, Motivation, and Social Networks.” Political Psychology, vol. 39, 2018, pp. 85–118., doi:10.1111/pops.12478.

Quax, Peter, et al. “Efficient Distribution of Emotion-Related Data through a Networked Virtual Environment Architecture.” Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds, vol. 20, no. 5-6, 2009, pp. 501–510., doi:10.1002/cav.278.

Lee, Jung, et al. “Antecedents of Cognitive Trust and Affective Distrust and Their Mediating Roles in Building Customer Loyalty.” Information Systems Frontiers : A Journal of Research and Innovation, vol. 17, no. 1, 2015, pp. 159–175., doi:10.1007/s10796-012-9392-7.

Siering, Michael, et al. “A Taxonomy of Financial Market Manipulations: Establishing Trust and Market Integrity in the Financialized Economy through Automated Fraud Detection.” Journal of Information Technology, vol. 32, no. 3, 2017, pp. 251–269., doi:10.1057/s41265-016-0029-z.

Becker, Marcel. “Privacy in the Digital Age: Comparing and Contrasting Individual Versus Social Approaches Towards Privacy.” Ethics and Information Technology, vol. 21, no. 4, 2019, pp. 307–317., doi:10.1007/s10676-019-09508-z.